While Anne Frank and her family went into hiding from the Nazis, their neighbors the Kohnstams escaped from Amsterdam. Helped over and over by selfless strangers, the family managed to arrive at Buenos Aires.
A stirring account of courage, hope, and victory, A Chance in the World is the extraordinary story of what is possible when you dare to believe. "Home is the place where our life stories begin. It is where we are understood, embraced, and accepted. It is a sanctuary of safety and security, a place to which we can always return. Down in the dank basement, amidst my moldy, hoarded food and beloved worm-eaten books, I dreamed that my real home, the place where my story had begun, was out there somewhere, and one day I was going to find it." Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives a terrifying existence. Caught in the clutches of a cruel foster family and subjected to constant abuse, he finds his only refuge in a box of books gifted to him by a kind stranger. In these books, he discovers new worlds he can only imagine and gains hope that one day he might have a different life, that one day he will find his true home. Armed with just a single clue, Steve embarks on an extraordinary quest for his identity, only to find that nothing is as it appears. A Chance in the World is the unbelievable true story of a broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a new place, where love awaits.
"Fascinating and exhilarating—Sean B. Carroll at his very best."—Bill Bryson, author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants From acclaimed writer and biologist Sean B. Carroll, a rollicking, awe-inspiring story of the surprising power of chance in our lives and the world Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world. Like every other species, we humans are here by accident. But it is shocking just how many things—any of which might never have occurred—had to happen in certain ways for any of us to exist. From an extremely improbable asteroid impact, to the wild gyrations of the Ice Age, to invisible accidents in our parents' gonads, we are all here through an astonishing series of fortunate events. And chance continues to reign every day over the razor-thin line between our life and death. This is a relatively small book about a really big idea. It is also a spirited tale. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python, Kurt Vonnegut, and other great thinkers, and crafted by one of today's most accomplished science storytellers, A Series of Fortunate Events is an irresistibly entertaining and thought-provoking account of one of the most important but least appreciated facts of life.
Sometimes love is right where you left it. Carlos Keller was finally moving on. He'd asked Kathy to marry him and now he could forever put behind him the disappointment of his failed first marriage to the only woman who ever held his heart, Madeline. Madeline can only assume karma is out to destroy her life. Her second marriage has ended. Her doctor has told her she has breast cancer, and now the only man she's ever really loved is getting married. Even though divorced, Carlos and Madeline remained close friends. But with one moving on, and one facing the possible end, will it be too much to remain friends? Or will fate step in and offer them a second chance?
This is my story of how a tragic accident had changed my life, and also changed my perception of life. My story of what made me who I am today and how it can inspire the world to see that there is light at even the darkest tunnel.
Have you made a mess of your circumstances? Jesus told a story about such a person and the answer lay in his loving and forgiving father. If you've come to the end of yourself or simply need a reminder of God's grace and love this book is for you.
A heartwarming story about childhood friends, broken lives, and a long ago promise that just might offer the hope of love for today. Years ago, the day before Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other, and sealed them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later and read them. But now, as that date arrives, much has changed. Ellie, bereft of the faith she grew up with, is a single mom living in a tired apartment trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches television to catch a glimpse of her old friend -Nolan, now an NBA star, whose terrible personal tragedies fueled his faith and athletic drive in equal measure. But Nolan also suffers from a transcendent loneliness that nothing has ever eased. In their separate lives, as Ellie and Nolan move toward the possibility of a reunion at the oak tree, Kingsbury weaves a tale of heart-wrenching loss, the power of faith, and the wounds that only love can heal.
Roy Mark does it again! The follow-on book to his excellent FIXIN' TO DIE RAG again focuses on the men and times of Charlie Company of the 1st Cavalry Division's 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion during the Vietnam War. However, where FIXIN' TO DIE RAG mainly covered ten bad days between March and September 1970, LIVE BY CHANCE, LOVE BY CHOICE, KILL BY PROFESSION steps back and widens its focus. The narratives in LIVE BY CHANCE, LOVE BY CHOICE, KILL BY PROFESSION are about people rather than events. The central figures are Sterling Cody, Ozzie Daniels, and Phil Seefeld. The three are young Warrant Officers who are assigned to Charlie Company during a particularly hectic, dangerous, and important portion of the war. To help the reader better understand these men, Roy Mark has done an outstanding job of describing many of the formative events-some serious, some frivolous and some hazardous-in the lives of these men and their families. Particularly enriching are the chapters devoted to stories of Sterling Cody's father, brother, and certain moments marking his march to manhood. LIVE BY CHANCE, LOVE BY CHOICE, KILL BY PROFESSION follows Sterling Cody into the Drug Wars of South America where he transitions into the more modern and advanced UH 60 Black Hawk helicopters. After retiring, Lieutenant Colonel Sterling was recalled to active duty for one more mission: Iraqi Freedom. LIVE BY CHANCE, LOVE BY CHOICE, KILL BY PROFESSION, interesting reading though it is, does not neglect to describe some of the terrifying misfortunes attendant to any war-the close calls, the physical wounds, the mental anguish, the deaths of good men. Roy Mark is at his best in these passages. LIVE BY CHANCE, LOVE BY CHOICE, KILL BY PROFESSION is a book that will fascinate and sometimes amuse the reader. It's a very hard book to put down.
2014 Christy Award winner! Darek Christiansen is almost a dream bachelor—oldest son in the large Christiansen clan, heir to their historic Evergreen Lake Resort, and doting father. But he’s also wounded and angry since the tragic death of his wife, Felicity. No woman in Deep Haven dares come near. New assistant county attorney Ivy Madison simply doesn’t know any better when she bids on Darek at the charity auction. Nor does she know that when she crafted a plea bargain three years ago to keep Jensen Atwood out of jail and in Deep Haven fulfilling community service, she was releasing the man responsible for Felicity’s death. All Ivy knows is that the Christiansens feel like the family she’s always longed for. And once she gets past Darek’s tough exterior, she finds a man she could spend the rest of her life with. Which scares her almost as much as Darek learning of her involvement in his wife’s case. Caught between new love and old grudges, Darek must decide if he can set aside the past for a future with Ivy—a future more and more at risk as an approaching wildfire threatens to wipe out the Christiansen resort and Deep Haven itself.
Lady Elaina had everything--wealth, title, and irresistible beauty--until her jealous half-sister ruined her reputation and forced her into a disgraceful marriage. She died amidst the flames, murdered and betrayed by her husband and her half-sister. As the flames roared, the loss of her unborn child created a thirst for revenge. A magical amulet sent her two years back in time. She has another chance to make things right for herself and her family, yet what began as a plot to undermine her half-sister's machinations quickly evolved into a political conspiracy that will rock the entire empire and make Elaina realize she might not have traveled back in time alone.